Note: This story contains spoilers from “Only Murders in the Building” Season 5, Episode 10.
“Only Murders in the Building” solved its latest crime, and set the stage for a wild new international adventure for its potential Season 6.
Episode 10, titled “The House Always…,” followed the murder mystery-solving trio of Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) as they went on one last wild ride in the Arconia’s underground casino to solve Lester’s murder.
The confrontation led to a big corruption reveal, heartwarming moments and a surprising new murder. Read below for more on the “Only Murders in the Building” Season 5 finale.
Who Killed Lester?
Season 5 revolved around investigating the murder of the Arconia’s beloved doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca), which the trio uncovered to be related to a secret plan to turn the titular building into New York City’s first casino — orchestrated in the midst of a feud between billionaire trio Bash Steed (Christoph Waltz), Camilla White (Renée Zellweger) and Jay Pflug (Logan Lerman) sparked by a severed finger found in Oliver’s apartment.
Episode 9 revealed that Lester had killed Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale). But the finale uncovered that before that tragedy, Nicky had been shocked by his wife Sofia (Tea Leoni) announcing she wanted a divorce. Her mother — the latest suspect in Lester’s murder — revealed that she was simply protecting her daughter when she implicated herself, who said she recognized the severed finger that the trio had been holding from the start of the season; and it belonged to the person Sofia had been cheating with all along.
That led the investigators to go back to the billionaire trio, the season’s main suspects. After confirming that none of them were missing a finger, Mabel realized that the only guilty party left was Mayor Beau Tillman (Keegan-Michael Key). He turned out to be Sofia’s lover and Lester’s killer — admitting he had always been the person to make deals happen for the billionaires. But the night of the murder, things turned dramatic after Nicky confronted the mayor for the affair.
In the chaos, Nicky ended up accidentally dying by Lester’s hand. The doorman got away at first, in an attempt to bring everything to light, but Beau got to him first and killed Lester. Lester had tried to reveal the identity of his killer from the start to the trio, but the message was jumbled thanks to a bad case of autocorrect.
Saving the Arconia
As the murder mystery reached its climax, the trio grappled with moving out of the Arconia. The finale revealed that not only was the building being turned into a casino, but it would be torn down completely so construction on the new locale could start from scratch.
Once Mayor Beau revealed himself as the killer, he used his crooked police force to trap the trio in a secret room so that they could die when the building was demolished. But Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) found out about his plan and, along with pop star Althea (Beanie Feldstein), created a distraction to help save their friends.
Just as Howard arrived to help though, Charles, Mabel and Oliver freed themselves in time to publicly reveal Beau’s crimes. They had recorded their entire conversation, which led to his arrest. Jay then revealed that he and other billionaires helped move Nicky’s body and hide the crime, which he confessed to the cops, which retroactively saved the Arconia from its fate — and all three of them ended up behind bars.
Who Is the Next Victim(s)?
True to “Only Murders in the Building” form, the Season 5 finale also set the stage for the trio’s next mystery.
After the arrests, Sofia came to the building to tell Charles she had feelings for him. She also invited him to Positano with her where she planned to build a new life for herself. But for the first time, Charles “said no to a dangerous woman.”
The show then flash forwarded three months to find Lester’s wife Lorraine (Dianne Wiest) at her new apartment at the Arconia. She had just received a massive cash reward from Sofia, a payoff from her investment in a local theater. Then the show caught up with Sofia in Positano as she said goodbye to her mother, who was on her death bed.
Back in New York, viewers learned that Howard found love (finally) with one of Sofia’s sons. And the trio got together to listen to a new murder podcast set in the U.K., from their old nemesis Cinda Canning (Tina Fey). The podcast centered around a red-haired woman in London who Cinda believed to be wrongfully accused of killing a royal descendant. Her narration followed as the woman, seemingly struggling from an injury collapsed on a street.
Turns out the subject of the podcast was in the United States and got killed just outside of the Arconia. The biggest shocker? The woman turned out to be Cinda Canning herself — making her the latest murder victim for the trip to investigate should the show return for Season 6.
“Only Murders in the Building” Seasons 1-5 are now streaming on Netflix. The show has not officially been renewed for Season 6.
